Yesterday, at the American Enterprise Institute Newt Gingrich gave a speech on national security titled, "America at Risk: Camus, National Security, and Afghanistan." Let's forget for a second about the sheer hilarity of Gingrich giving a speech on Camus and national security, and focus on what he actually said and the consequences of such rhetoric. The basic premise of his speech is that he believes "sharia is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the US and the world as we know it."
Gingrich has latched onto this "Islamophobic" rhetoric in the past couple weeks. First, his speech on the building of a Muslim Community Center at Ground Zero, where he warned that "America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization." In the same speech he argued that we should look to Saudi Arabia as a standard bearer on religious freedoms saying, "There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia." He followed those remarks up with an article in Human Events this week, again warning of the creeping influence of Sharia law into American society. He writes: "Some radical Islamists use terrorism as a tactic to impose sharia but others use non-violent methods -- a cultural, political, and legal jihad that seeks the same totalitarian goal even while claiming to repudiate violence."
Gingrich obviously wants to be president and thinks that promoting fear and xenophobic hysteria is a good way to play to a certain audience. But he should consider the consequences of such rhetoric. There has been a rise in Islamophobic speeches, protests and organizations in recent weeks and months. From Brooklyn, NY, to Temecula, CA, there have been protests against Mosques being built in neighborhoods. A group in Virginia calls themselves the Virginia Anti-Sharia Task Force (VAST). In Florida there was even a Koran burning party that was organized. There are a number of theories as to what is causing this uptick, ranging from a decade of war to the economic downturn. Regardless, when leaders of the conservative establishment like Gingrich sink to such paranoid and craven politicization, it justifies and promotes this sort of behavior.
Mayor Bloomberg had a great response to this type of behavior when Sarah Palin expressed her opposition to ground zero plans: "Everything the United States stands for and New York stands for is tolerance and openness, and I think it's a great message for the world that unlike in other places where they might actually ban people from wearing a burqa or they might actually keep people from building a building, that's not what America was founded on, nor is it what America should become."
But the frame that Gingrich is promoting is not only un-American and counter to our values, it is also counterproductive to our anti-terrorism efforts. First, at a strategic level, it plays into al Qaeda's framework that the West is at war with Islam. As Malcolm Nance, a former military intelligence officer and author of An End to al-Qaeda, recently told the American Prospect's Adam Serwer: "When you frame it as a fight against Islam and Islamic fundamentalism ... you're almost encouraging Osama bin Laden's line of thinking. He loves this idea that this is seen as a clash between Islam and the West; he wants that, he thrives on that."
At another level, this fear mongering and overreaction serves to diminish America's resilience, an important component of America's counterterrorism strategy. The National Security Strategy says that resilience is, "the ability to adapt to changing conditions and prepare for, withstand, and rapidly recover from disruption." There are many facets of this approach, from a resilient infrastructure to a resilience economy. However an important part is also a resilient society that does not abandon its core values as soon as they're challenged. Yet a decade after 9/11 Gingrich is ready to give up on America's strength and resiliency. In addition, Stephen Flynn, president of the Center for National Policy, who has been the leader for years on promoting resilience, says that there is also a deterrent value to resilience saying that, "if an adversary believes that Americans are well-prepared to prevent, withstand, and rapidly recover from acts of terrorism, the appeal of engaging in such acts would be diminished." Basically, by his hysteria, Gingrich is feeding into al Qaeda's goal of promoting a hysterical reaction.
Finally, and perhaps most dangerously, this type of rhetoric and behavior isolates and vilifies the Muslim American community -- a crucial partner in combating radicalization and terrorism. Former NYPD and LAPD Chief William Bratton described his interactions with Muslim Americans, calling them "extraordinarily law abiding community." Robert Mueller has testified that, "many of our cases are a result of the cooperation from the Muslim community in the United States." And we have seen time and again that Muslim American groups and individuals play an important role in disrupting terrorist plots and preventing domestic radicalization. Examples include The Council on American Islamic Relations' (CAIR) assistance with the FBI that led to the arrest of the five northern Virginia men who were recently sentenced in a Pakistani court to Aliou Nasse, the Senegalese Muslim immigrant who saw smoke coming from an unattended SUV parked in Times Square. Muslim American groups and individuals have repeatedly proven to be the most important partner in combating terrorism. Isolating and vilifying Muslim Americans, while we should be creating ties and increasing cooperation, is simply counterproductive.
Gingrich's behavior denies the strength and resiliency of America. It has me saying words I never thought I would utter: I miss the rhetoric of George W. Bush. After all he clearly said, "Ours is a country based upon tolerance and we welcome people of all faiths in America."
John Thatamanil: To the Quran-Burning Church: Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness
When Christians bear false witness against our neighbors and fail to live up to Jesus' command to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we abandon the constitutive practices of Christian life.
Joseph Ward III: Anti-Defamation League Declares Opposition to 'Ground Zero Mosque'
The "Ground Zero mosque" is a much-needed bridge of understanding from which many New Yorkers -- including the ADL and some of the centers most vocal opponents -- could greatly benefit.
Ground Zero mosque has new opponent: Anti-Defamation League
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Gingrich: Make Ground Zero 'Battlefield,' No to Mosque
Hate-Mongering Bears Fruit: Arlington Mosque Vandalized
Ground Zero mosque has new opponent: Anti-Defamation League
Quietly, another mosque operates in the shadow of Ground Zero
Minority Islamic sect under fire in Indonesia
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Now I have no idea if the Rolling Stone claim was accurate, but it did strike as a confirming this possibility for Obama's failure to deliver on Gitmo closure and other issues favored by civilian LE personnel. In their entirety this could be better explained as reflecting a fear he may have developed earlier in life over displeasing uniformed men.
Perhaps I'm rationalizing my own mistaken belief that he would do these things if elected. But maybe its true too. For a young black man in the US to develop a phobia of this nature isn't really that unlikely a prospect.
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So is isolating and vilifying republicans, but that doesn't stop people from doing it......
Watch the UK documentary "Undercover Mosque" if you can find it. It has never been released on DVD, probably because the people who made it are in witness relocation programs now, sharing a room with Salman Rushdie and Ayan Hirsi Ali.
When someone follows a holy book that tells them to conquer the world, and then they openly declare that they want to conquer the world, and then they start attacking you like they want to conquer you, I think it's only prudent to believe them.
“It must now be obvious that the objective of the Islamic jihad is to eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system, and establish in its place an Islamic system of state rule. Islam does not intend to confine his rule to a single state or a hand full of countries. The aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution. Although in the initial stages, it is incumbent upon members of the party of Islam to carry out a revolution in the state system of the countries to which they belong; their ultimate objective is none other than world revolution “
Jihad in Islam ('Jihad Fi Sabillilah), Sayyid Abdul A’la Maududi, Transl. Abdul Waheed Khan, page 20, Islamic Publications Ltd, Pakistan
by Paul Craig Roberts
"In a government of law, the existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."
Justice Louis Brandeis
Is Pakistan responsible for the Mumbai attack in India? No.
Is India’s repression of its Muslim minority responsible? No.
Is the United States government responsible? Yes.
The attack on Mumbai required radicalized Muslims. Radicalized Muslims resulted from the US overthrowing the elected government in Iran and imposing the Shah; from the US stationing troops in Saudi Arabia; from the US invading and attempting to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, bombing weddings, funerals, and children’s soccer games; from the US violating international and US law by torturing its Muslim victims; from the US enlisting Pakistan in its war against the Taliban; from the US violating Pakistan’s sovereignty by conducting military operations on Pakistani territory, killing Pakistani civilians; from the US government supporting a half century of Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their lands, towns and villages; from the assault of American culture on Muslim values; from the US purchasing the government of Egypt to act as its puppet;
balance of article: http://www
Rubbish. You do not comprehend their intentions better their own statement. Read this:
" Dr. Muhammad al Alkhuli, a popular Islamic scholar, says: "Islam is a religion, but not in the western meaning of religion. The western connotation of the term "religion" is something between the believer and God. Islam as a religion organizes all aspects of life on both the individual and national levels. Islam organizes your relations with God, with yourself, with your children, with your relatives, with your neighbor, with your guest, and with other brethren. Islam clearly establishes your duties and rights in all those relationships. Islam establishes a clear system of worship, civil rights, laws of marriage and divorce, laws of inheritance, code of behavior, what not to drink, what to wear, and what not to wear, how to worship God, how to govern, the laws of war and peace, when to go to war, when to make peace, the law of economics, and the laws of buying and selling. Islam is a complete code of life."
Islam has three dimensions: religion, society and state. They can not be separated. On average 60% of the muslim scriptures deal with their relationship with non muslims.,
Newtie, leave hate behind ... You will never become president. You served divorced papers on your first wife in a hospital where she was fighting cancer, you married a staff member with whom you were having an affair while married, you divorced your second wife (she deserved that one) to marry yet another staff member with whom you were having an affair again while married. Does your sexual appetite know no bounds?? If we put you in the WH, Bill clinton will look like an altar boy.
It doesn't matter what they do in Saudi Arabia. They aren't a democracy. This is America. We are a democracy. And we are country that is definitely not (or sure aren't supposed to be!) a theocracy.
As far as I can judge it Newt and his friends from Palin right on down the food chain are using anti-muslim bias as the new incarnation of the Southern Strategy. They've just shifted pigment and added in religion. It's mean to divide the country, undermine who we are as a people and build fear so that neocons can benefit from the chaos.
Hurting our security. Yes. It hurts our cohesion here and it feeds the extremists abroad. It makes an excuse for war and profit. It throws a problem in the path of the black president with the muslim middle name. That's why Newt's doing it.
What an excellent point! Does Newt want us to take our cues from Saudia Arabia for whom we want to become??? I know most of us don't.
Of course it is, but those on the right would obviously rather be destructive than constructive.
150 police officers had to go to Saten Island
politicians fan the flames
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